Street-car fender.



Patented July I, I902.

' E. F. CANNON.

STREET GAR FENDER.

(Application filed Sept. 21, 1901.)

(No Model.)

friE-vgqpm PE'IERS c9, FHOYO-LITNQ. WASHINGTON. n c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN F. CANNON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

STREET-CAR FENDER.

SPECIEIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 703,536, dated July 1, 1902. Application filed September 21, 1901. Serial No. 76,031. (NomQdeL) To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWIN F. CANNoN,a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,

have invented new and usefullmprovements in Street-Oar Fenders, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in street-car fenders; and the object of my invention is to provide a fender that is capable of being attached alike to the front and the rear ends of street-cars in such a manner that it can be easily and quickly raised and lowered while the car is moving or stationary.

In street-car service it has come to be a necessity to provide the cars with fenders to protect human beings and animals that may be accidentally caught on the track in the path of moving cars, and the desideratum has been to perfect some mechanism by which these fenders may be held completely under the control of the motormen, so as to be instantaneously and easily shifted from an open to a closed position, and vice versa, and also to enable the motorman to quickly raise the fender at the end of the cars journey.

With the above-named objects in View my invention consists of a'fender adapted to be raised and lowered by a hand-lever working through a slot in the platform of the car and supported on a shaft having its bearings in gudgeon-blocks located on the top side of the platform. The upper end of the hand-lever is thrust forward, turning on its pivotal support in the gudgeon-blocks, by which movement the lower end of the lever is thrown rearward, and through theconuection of said lower end of the lever with the fender-frame the latter is raised by turniugat its rear end on its supporting cross-shaft. 'A reversal ofthe movement of the hand-lever will in turn lower the fender-frame.

My invention also consists of other details of construction, all of which are ful'l 'ygillus trated in the accompanying drawings, .in

which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the front'end of a street-car with my fender attached, the

latter beingshown in two positions in full Fig. 2 is a plan view of the- Similar letters of reference represent similar parts throughout the specification and drawings.

'Arepresonts the front end of a street-car supported on the wheels B (of which only one isshown in the drawings) and carrying the platform B. To the front end of the platformare attached by screws or otherwise two hanger-bars a and a, one at each side, which hanger-bars are provided at their lower ends with eyes I), in which is supported at its opposite ends the shaft 0. v

.D represents the fender-frame, which consists of a series of parallel bars or rods (1, provided at their rear ends With'eyes d and united at their front ends by a cross plate E, cast integral therewith. The fender-frame D is supported at its rear end by the shaft 0, which passes through the eyes d? in the rear ends of the parallel bars and which is in turn, as above stated, supported at its ends in the lower ends of the hanger-bars a a.

-F represents a pair otgudgeon-blocks located' upon the platform B'andrigidly setively. The shaft G affords pivotal support for the pawl H, while shaft G similarly supports the lever I, which latter lever extends above and below the platform through a slot therein.

' Depending from the lower side of the platform and secured therein in any convenient and suitable manner near its front edge is a pair of elbow-supporting arms J, the lower forward ends of which are provided with eyes j, adapted to support at its opposite ends a shaftj. Secured to the front face of the lower end ofthe lever I is a hook h, fitting tightly into the eye of a vertical plate 1', extending upward'from and rigidly attached to the cross plate K. Thepla te'i being thus ti'ghtlyor rig idly connected to the cross-plate K and tightly hooked to the lever I'servfes as the connection links on the rear ends of the connecting-chains on, whose front ends are fastened to the crosspiece E of the fender-frame D.

It will be observed that the pivotal support of the lever I is ata point above its center, as seen in Fig. 3, thus bringing the longer arm of the lever at the lower end, whereat it is connected to the fender-frame and by which the necessary leverage is affordedfor swinging the outer end of the fender-frame upward when the upper end of said lever is thrust forward.

D represents a screen made of canvas, matted wire, or other flexible material placed across the top of the fender-frame to support any body that is taken up by the fender.

K represents a pair of slat-frames located on the top of the fender-frame, one at each side, directly in front of and extending upward to the platform. These frames are for the purpose of protecting from injury by contact with the operating mechanism of the fender-frame any person or animal that may accidentally fall onto the tender at the sides thereof near the rear end.

L represents a locking-plate which is pivotally supported at its rear end on the shaft j and which is provided on either side with locking-fingers 1 2, Whose forward ends fit into recesses in the top edges of the two central parallel bars (1. This locking device is employed to lock the fender-frame in position when the latter islowered to the rail, and thus to prevent the accidental lifting of the fender when its front end comes in contact with a fallen body. The said locking-plate is provided with a hook 3, to which is attached a wire or chain for connecting it with the lever I, by which said locking-plate and its lockingfingers are raised in advance of the movement of the fender-frame when the latter is lifte to a vertical position.

The rear side of the lever I is provided with a ratchet which engages pawl II for locking the fender at any given height in its raised position. n represents a footpieoe extending downwardly from the lower end of the pawl and used for the purpose of disengaging the pawl from the lever-ratchet when it is desired to move the lever for shifting the position of the fender-frame.

The operation of my apparatus as above desoribedis thought to be entirely obvious from said description; but I will restate it briefly as follows: \Vhen the car is in motion, the fender-frame is normally held in its lowered position just above the car-track, as shown in full lines in Fig. 1. In case of accident the moto'rman quickly seizes the lever I, and after detaching the pawl from the lever thrusts the latter forward, when through its connections at its lower end with the fender D the latter is made to swing upwardly on the shaft 0, and when raised sufficiently high to hold securely whatever fallen body it has caught the fender is instantly locked in position by means of the pawl and ratchet above described, after which the car may be stopped and the body removed.

While I have described the advantages of my invention as being especially useful in cases of accident, it is also to be observed that an equally important advantage lies in the fact that the use of my invention can be made to obviate the necessity for shifting car-fenders from frontto rear, and vice versa, at the terminals of street-car lines. It has long been customary to provide a car with a single fender, which must be shifted at the end of each journey, involving the services of two men, as well as a loss of time. With my fender, which is simple in construction and easy of manipulation, attached to both ends of the car it will require the services of but one man and involve the loss of but a moment of time to lift the fender-frame from the track and lock it in its folded position against the end of the car.

It will be obvious that many changes may be made in both the form and construction of my apparatus Without sacrificing the spirit or departing from the principle of myinvention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim. and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The fender-frame D; consisting of a series of parallel bars (1, united at their front ends by the cross-plate E, and provided at their rear ends with eyes to receive the shaft 0 on which said. bars are made to turn; the cross-plate K provided with hooks on its front edge for connection with the front portion of the fender-frame, and with the vertical plate 2', for connection with the lever I, said lever and its pivotal supports on the platform B; all combined substantially as described.

2. The combination of the platform B; the gudgeon-blocks F, secured to the top thereof; the elbow-supporting arms J, secured to the bottom thereof and carrying at their forward ends the shaft j; on which is pivotally supported the locking-plate L, with its lockingfingers 1, 2; lever 1, means for connecting the lower end of said lever with the lockingplate L, and its fingers by which said locking-plate and its fingers may be lifted by the inward movement of the lower end of the lever, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of the platform; the gudgeon-blocks, the shafts carried thereby; the pawl and its footpiece; the lever provided with a ratchet-surface for engagement with said pawl, and also a hook on its front side for engagement both with the locking-plate and the fender-frame; the cross-plate K; connecting-chains m the fender D, and the shaft 0, all substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I here affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ED'WIN F. CANNON.

IVitnesses:

L. O. POSEY, P. J. lVALsHE. 

